Frugal Innovation in Medicine

What is Frugal innovation?

Frugal innovation provides effective functional solutions to common problems encountered by “the many”, with a minimal use of resources. In healthcare, these innovations frequently arise when usual solutions are too expensive or not available, and are especially helpful in and for developing countries.

Four types of frugal innovations can be identified:

Lean tools and techniques refer to the simplification and adaptation of existing technologies to drastically reduce costs and provide health innovations to everyone.

Opportunistic solutions refer to the clever use of modern, cheap, and available-for-everyone technologies to tackle “old problems”.